12/03/2025
From a parent: "Why is the school making IEP goals only for reading fluency (fastness of reading) for my dyslexic reader? I don't care how fast my kid can read. I want to make sure she CAN read, understand what she read, doesn't have to struggle through words. What good is it to pull her from class just to read the same passage day after day for a week? That is memorization, not skills improvement." 🤔
🧠❤️From our reading therapist:
I found this article on the reading rockets website that had an awesome quote,
“Sound reading programs do not make reading rate itself a goal, any more than physicians make lower temperature a goal when treating strep throat. They recognize that heightened temperature is a result of an infection and treat that directly rather than trying to lower the temperature itself (which could be done rather easily with ice packs and the like).
If you want kids to read faster, try building up their decoding ability and vocabularies, and teaching them comprehension strategies with sufficiently challenging texts.”
So, I would understand that reading fluency (rate, tone, etc.) is important and I have no issues with that being a goal. BUT, what else is being done to support and improve her reading overall? Fluency is one small piece of the reading puzzle.
Research shows that fluency isn’t meaningful until a student reaches a certain level of decoding accuracy (reading accuracy). When a student is still working hard to decode, speed isn’t the priority. I would focus on her reading accuracy. Because this is what will truly increase her fluency AND her confidence.
I also don’t work in a school, so I don’t want to say that are doing anything wrong necessarily. I know from the courses I’ve taken that fluency data is commonly collected to monitor progress. But I alap want to make sure we advocate for a more balanced approach that reflects her actual needs!
Here’s some points / questions I researched that will be helpful to bring up!
🍎Decoding comes before fluency. Since your child is still building decoding skills, it makes sense for the IEP to support that area, not just focus on reading speed.
🍎Fluency doesn’t always show what she truly understands. What reading comprehension strategies can we be teaching her to help with grade level and acamdeix text?
🍎Timed reading can be stressful, and her WPM may not reflect how much she actually gets from a story. Confidence matters. Sometimes timed readings can make kids shut down or feel discouraged.
🍎The IEP should support her as a whole child. That means looking at decoding, fluency, comprehension, and also the emotional impact of reading aloud in class.
QUESTIONS
📚“Since my child is still working on decoding, how did the team decide that fluency should be the main focus right now?”
📚“Is it possible to add a decoding goal so we’re strengthening her foundation?”
📚“How do we make sure fluency tests don’t cause stress or make her feel discouraged?”
📚“Could we add some comprehension strategy goals? I want to make sure she’s supported in understanding the stories she reads, not just reading them quickly.”
📚“What can we put in place to help her feel safe during reading-aloud moments?”
(You can mention things like reading a passage ahead of time, having the option to pass, or showing comprehension in a different way.)
📚“How can we make sure she still gets access to interesting, grade-level ideas and content, even while decoding is developing?”
